Community pharmacist counselling practices in the Bisha health directorate, Saudi Arabia -simulated patient visits.

BACKGROUND: Many organizations have suggested a minimum standard regarding pharmaceutical counselling for patients, which includes information about the name of the drug, the description the drug, the indication for use, how to use it, the method of treatment, precautions, adverse reactions, and any contraindications. Correspondingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that pharmacists spend at least 3 min with each patient to provide counselling. This study aimed to evaluate the counselling practices of community pharmacists for both over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription-only medicines in the Bisha Health Directorate, Saudi Arabia. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional study designed to evaluate simulated patient visits to observe real counselling practices of community pharmacies in the Bisha area; 73 pharmacies were visited. Two scenarios were used in this study. The first scenario was for a prescription-only medicine, and the second scenario was for an OTC medicine. The duration of counselling was recorded for every visit. RESULTS: A total of 105 visits to the 73 pharmacies were conducted under the following scenarios: scenario 1 = 73 visits and scenario 2 = 32 visits. The average time for the simulation was 110 s for scenario 1 and 73.4 s for scenario 2. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between the duration of counselling and patient simulation visits that occurred in the morning (Spearman's rho = - 0.396, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: It was shown that patient counselling needs to be given greater emphasis in community pharmacies. In this study, the time spent for patient counselling failed to meet the minimum WHO standard. Thus, pharmacists must be encouraged to spend at least 3 min on patient counselling.

Sleep patterns and predictors of poor sleep quality among Saudi commission residents in the Aseer region, Saudi Arabia before and during covid-19 pandemic.

Background: Sleep is an essential part of human physiology. Being a basic need for human well-being, adequate sleep is associated with good health and life quality for all individuals. Disorders of sleep may result in significant derangement in human functionality. Sleepiness among physicians affects not only their personal lives but also negatively impacts the lives of their patients. Method: This is an analytic cross-sectional study design conducted among 268 male and female Saudi commission residents working in public healthcare facilities in the Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. The study aimed to assess sleep patterns and determine predictors of poor sleep quality among Saudi commission residents of the Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. Result: The study reported that before COVID 19 pandemic, 85.1% of Saudi commission residents had poor sleep quality; however, during the pandemic, the percentage increased to 92.5% who showed poor sleep quality. Also, we found there was a significant association between different self-reported morbidities among Saudi commission residents and sleep disturbance (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The study revealed that the percentage of the Saudi commission residents had poor sleep quality during pandemic higher than before with significant difference, which indicates the relation between COVID 19 pandemic and sleeps quality among Saudi commission residents.

Adherence of heart failure patients to heart failure medications and its determinants in the Aseer region, Southern Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome of cardiovascular disease. Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's needs for blood and oxygen. It is characterised by several attacks of dyspnoea, chest pain, orthopnea and pulmonary or systemic congestion. The heart inability to fulfill the demands of the body further failure of heart to pump the blood with normal efficiency. Lack of patients' adherence to their treatment may affect their clinical compensation. AIM: To assess the extent of assessing the level and predictors of medication adherence among patients with heart failure in the Aseer region. METHODOLOGY: A descriptive cross-sectional approach was used for targeting all registered heart failure patients attending the cardio clinic and chronic diseases clinic in Aseer region hospitals. Data were collected using a direct interview questionnaire that was developed by the researchers with the help of experts. Questionnaire included the patients' sociodemographic data, co-morbidities, disease-related data and drugs. RESULTS: The study included 151 patients diagnosed with heart failure. About 66% of the patients were above the age of 60 years and 62.3% were males. Exact of 47% of the cases had the disease for less than 3 years and 43.7% of the patients had the treatment for more than 3 years. About 49% of the patients forget to have their medication at least once while 34.4% had problems remembering to take your medication. Totally, more than half of the patients had poor medication adherence and only 7.3% had a high adherence rate. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: In conclusion, the adherence rate for the patients' medication was poor due to forgetting to have the medications. Poor adherence was related more with single patients who are not working with poor income.

Development of oral solid self-emulsifying lipid formulations of risperidone with improved in vitro dissolution and digestion.

Liquid adsorption on solid adsorbent carriers is an emerging technique for oral lipid-based drug delivery systems. The purpose of the current study is to convert liquid into solid self-emulsifying lipid formulations (SELFs) using an inorganic adsorbent Neusilin® grade US2 (NUS2) and investigate in vitro dissolution and digestion performance of the model antipsychotic compound risperidone. METHODS: The liquid SELFs were designed using various oils, nonionic surfactants and converted into solid at various SELF: NUS2 (%m/m) mixing ratios. The characterization of solid SELF powder was performed by using SEM, XRD, FT-IR & DSC to investigate the physical nature of the drug. The in vitro dissolution experiments were conducted to compare the representative formulations with marketed product risperdal®. In vitro digestion experiments were performed using a pH-stat at pH 6.8 for 30mins to predict the fate of risperidone in the GI tract after exposure of the solid SELF to pancreatic enzymes and bile. RESULTS: The results from the characterization studies showed that NUS2 with SELF at 1:1 (%m/m) yield superior flowability of the powder. The SEM revealed that pure risperidone was in irregular crystal shape whereas the drug loaded solid SELFs were in smooth regular shape. The XRD and DSC analyses of pure risperidone also confirmed the intense peaks due to the native crystalline form of the drug. However, the absence of sharp peaks in solid SELFs indicated the amorphous form of the drug. From the dissolution studies it was found that solid SELFs provided significant release profiles (>95%) compared to marketed product risperdal®. The digestion experiments suggested that risperidone was in a supersaturated state which could be maintained in the presence of mixed bile salt micelles. CONCLUSIONS: Solid SELF of risperidone with improved dissolution and digestion profile was successfully prepared using Neusilin® US2 as an adsorbent carrier.